Meanwhile, The Oklahoma Gazette praises the “NOTLD” and “Reefer Madness” releases.
And DVDCorner.net gives “Swing Parade” a high grade.
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Update: Two RiffTrax “DVD Verdicts” (plus more reviews)At DVDVerdict.com, the verdict for the RiffTrax “Night of the Living Dead” release is not good. The verdict for “Best of RiffTrax Shorts, Vol. 2” is.
18 Replies to “Update: Two RiffTrax “DVD Verdicts” (plus more reviews)”Commenting at Satellite News
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I thought NotLD was a great riff, the best of the 3-riffer redos. So, nuts to them!
I think the problem with the NotLD review is that the reviewer thinks it was a good film to begin with. Sad, really.
There seems to be a lot of resistance around here to any reviewer who dares to suggest that a Rifftrax/MST3K-related product isn’t anything other than good. Why?
Night of the Living Dead IS a GREAT film. It isn’t just some B movie made on the cheap by a sleazy producer to get the teen drive in bucks, it’s a low budget independent movie made by people with real talent and it shows. What’s sad is that some people think “black and white, old, and/or low budget” automatically equals bad. It’s also sad that some people will only accept someone else’s if it heaps massive amounts of praise on anything that comes out of anyone associated with MST (except Jim Mallon for some reasons, who gets the opposite treatment from those people). Say anything bad about anything they do and it isn’t considered a valid reasoned opinion, such as the one expressed here by someone who obviously admires the Rifftrax guys and their work. No there must be some other reason that they didn’t think it was absolute genius, not that it just might not be absolute genius, and they have the integrity to admit it.
I can’t speak from experience because I haven’t seen the new three riffer version of NOTLD, but I have seen the old Mike only version and it is unwatchable. Unless they completely rewrote the entire riffing script they were already at a severe disadvantage because anything they left in from the old one would instantly become the worst kind of material that can bring the enjoyment of any riffing session to a complete halt.
I’ve complained as much as anyone about them doing “good” movies, and I’ve recently seen more Rifftrax for what I would consider good movies which were funny enough to change my opinion somewhat. I still don’t think they should just pump out a rifftrax for any good movie, but there are some good films that can still be funny. The first two Spiderman and X-Men movies for example are great films, but they still offer some good areas for riffing. But the problem is still just as this NOTLD review describes. Good films just don’t offer enough riffing potential to make for a really good Rifftrax. Their riffs for Spiderman, or Xmen can be fun, but they don’t even come close to being as hilarious as their riffs for recent dreck like The Happening or Twilight. Those are classic Rifftrax that alone almost make it worth owning those pitiful movies on DVD. I could actually stand watching those movies multiple times with the rifftrax (and have). But with Spiderman or Xmen I had fun watching the Rifftrax once, but I’m not in any hurry to see it again. Which makes me wonder why they haven’t done Xmen 3, which is so awful it would make for an extremely entertaining riff.
And another good point this reviewer brings up at the end. Why haven’t Rifftrax done Titanic? That is exactly the kind of film that would work perfectly for them. Millions of people own the DVD, and yet it is an exceptionally BAD movie that would make for a great Rifftrax. Makes more sense to me than doing something brilliant like Raiders of the Lost Ark which doesn’t lend itself to riffing at all.
It seems if someone limits the scope of what is “riffable” to only their opinion of what are BAD movies, I think they’re missing one of the best parts of MST- having fun with film! Movies, good and bad, can be enjoyed on many levels. I agree it’s important to respect the work that goes into a NOTLD, as well as the importance of the film as it relates to the horror movie, but that doesn’t mean that the riffs for it aren’t funny. Everyone’s got an opinion, I suppose, and that’s good with me. But c’mon, as much as I love RAIDERS, it’s got plenty to riff on. I really don’t think any film is above riffing. Except maybe Ernest Saves Xmas. I LIKE IT VERY MUCH.
NOTLD is just slow and boring. Interesting characters (except for the useless Barbara), but it takes too long for anything to happen for it to be worth it.
The 3-man Rifftrax was great, though. Although Given the fan arguments over the whole running zombie vs. Romero style slow zombie issue, I’m suprised they didn’t say anything about how the cemetary zombie (the first zombie we ever see in a George Remero movie) runs and uses tools (ie. he bashes the car window with a rock). In genreal acts a bit different than the even slower and more mindless ones later in the film.
I’ve always felt that the Shorts are way better than the movies,which they repeated the same riffs that Mike used by himself.As far as NoTLD,it’s suppose to take its time,to get to know the characters and to build a sense of suspense.The trouble with scary movies nowadays that there’s no suspense or tension,just gore and that’s it.I prefer the Shorts over the movies any day!! Keep ’em coming!!
Will
He’s entitled to his opinion, and I’m entitled to mine. I was just surprised because I thought this one was better than most. What I said wasn’t any worse than sticking my tongue out at him.
Well, I think the three-riffer version is better than Mike’s solo commentary (he just sounded so lonely). However, the reviewer s not out of line in his thinking. The riffing at the start of the movie was bad. It’s a fine example of what Mike, Kevin and Bill should not be doing, beating an already unfunny riff into the ground. It happens far too often and is probably easily avoidable if they take the time to do it.
Night of the Living Dead was the first horror movie that I saw. I first saw it on TV during Halloween time when I was a kid. At this point I’m so familiar with the movie that it is nice to have something else added to it, in this case the riffing. In recent years I have grown weary of George Romero’s disdain for humanity and I think he’s a bit over-rated. For a good zombie story, I suggest reading World War Z by Max Brooks.
That said, the copy of the movie used for this Rifftrax really is appalling. A cheap, digitized mess. It’s like one of those DVDs from the dollar store. I actually feel ripped off.
NOTLD is a fanastic film. People who think otherwise are wrong. Thank you and goodnight.
It’s good, but not fantastic. Despite the increased scope and gore of his other zombie movies, NOTLD is still better than the other Romero movies.
@Ryan #6
It’s actually called proper character and story development, and it’s what real storytellers use to make you actually believe the story, and care about the characters and what will happen to them during the film. It is also something that is often tossed out the window in many modern day films, which is why many modern films are incredibly shallow garbage. NOTLD is still the best zombie film ever made by far. Other movies may have done the zombies themselves better, but NOTLD is the better movie as a whole.
I think that the real problem with the Rifftrax version of NOTLD and it was said briefly in the review is that the transfer is off just a bit. Almost like the film is stutter-stepping just a split second every split second, which really really distracts from the commentary. Why the transfer from the original Legend DVD with Mike solo wasn’t used, I don’t know. I couldn’t get through the whole film because the transfer was giving me a headache. Did anyone else notice this problem with the DVDs?
I enjoy Night of the Living Dead, but I can still recognize its shortcomings. Sure, it’s an important film from a historical perspective, and had a lot of cool ideas going for it (I always enjoyed the way they used the news broadcasts to explain the happenings in the outside world without us losing focus on the main characters, allowing the majority of the film to take place inside a claustrophobia-inducing house), but the acting is all over the place, and a lot of scenes drag on unnecessarily long. I picked up the Legend Films DVD back in the day because I felt it was ripe for a riff, and was saddened to find out it was mostly a pseudo-humorous DVD commentary, peppered with factoids about the actors and how few other movies they made (and more saddened to find out the three-riffer edition kept a few of said factoids).
Please don’t mistake my comment for resistance toward a review simply because they disliked the DVD. Certainly I didn’t think it was their best work. But I don’t think “hey, I LIKED that movie!” is a good review.
And come on, an MST3K fan complaining about the visual quality of the source material?
[The following is a copy of the customer review I posted to Amazon for the NotLD Rifftrax DVD]
I somehow stumbled across this at my local Best Buy on May 11, 2009. To the best of my knowledge, it wasn’t supposed to be released outside of rifftrax.com for another month. Naturally, I grabbed it quickly.
The comedy of Mike, Kevin, and Bill is solid as expected. Some of the jokes are the word-for-word exact same as in the earlier version from Legend Films, featuring only Mike Nelson’s comedy track. In this version, however, the delivery of those lines is shared by Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. Luckily, there is some new material mixed in that offsets the repeats. If you’ve never seen the previous version, you won’t even notice.
I only had two real technical issues with this DVD. Firstly, the menu screen ran once and then stopped instead of looping back to the start. This meant that I had to start the entire DVD all over again. Secondly, the video was choppy in parts. The audio ran without issue, but some parts of the film seemed to be skipping video frames. I am not certain if this was an issue with all copies of this DVD or if it’s specific to my player.
All in all, it’s enjoyable and funny, a good buy for any fan of Rifftrax, Mystery Science Theater 3000, or Cinematic Titanic.
I’m with Uncle Bill (#4). This one did not work for me. It was strange- I was there, loving the jokes as usual, and I would find myself being drawn into the actual movie, not the mockery of it. NOTLD has its flaws as others here have mentioned. But it remains an interesting and sometimes compelling film. I would find myself following the story and resenting the Riffs a little, especially when they were mean-spirited. See, I can put up with the digs when a movie is really offensive or contemptable, but this one was neither.
I think the Riffs of ‘good’ movies work better when they respect the source material a little more… and even then, they can’t reach the same level of hilarity as a really awful movie, because I become engaged in the original despite myself. Then a disturbing duality asserts itself… I begin to lose my sense of identity and place, and I must quickly plug in a copy of ‘The Sinister Urge’ to regain my grounding.
Then all is well.
I have NOTLD scheduled to view next, but I have to say, I just watched “Plan 9” with three riffers, and was a bit underwhelmed. I was hoping for something on par with the “Film Crew” releases, but found myself only chuckling occasionally.
Also, with “Shorts Vol. 2” I noticed that there was sort of odd audio drop whenever one of the guys spoke, and the sound for the short got very soft? While I did enjoy the collection (not as good as Vol. 1) the audio thing did bug me a bit.
#17, I didn’t care for the three riffer Plan 9 the first time I watched it. The second time around it was hilarious. I’ve found that, like MST and CT, some Rifftrax get funnier on repeat viewings.
Regarding NOTLD, I thought it was the best of the recent Legend Three riffer editions. I love the film but I thought there was more than enough for them to riff on. Country hicks, zombies, graveyards, people on the brink of insanity, bad carpentry…plenty for them to sink their teeth into and I thought they took full advantage.